Why should men read books by women?

By Louise Swinn

April 28, 2014 — 7.09pm

A parent sees a lizard scampering across the yard and says to their child: "what do you think he’s up to?" By default we use "he" when we don’t know. Of course, for those of you shaking your heads, this isn’t everyone – it’s just the majority. The male is the default.

We grow up with this idea, like we grow up playing with "Lego men". It’s no wonder, then, that girls are comfortable reading books about boys (they’re used to it) and girls, but boys are less comfortable reading stories with girls at the centre of them. If you’re shaking your head, I love you – you’re doing something right. You’ve got boys around who are reading books about and by girls and women, and I kiss you for it. But studies have shown that this problem starts young. Boys may learn to belittle writing with girls at the centre, and turn into men who grow up not reading books with women in them, or books written by women.

Boys may learn to belittle writing with girls at the centre, and turn into men who grow up not reading books with women in them, or books written by women.Credit:Lee Besford

We know that, while women are likely to read a reasonable balance of books written by women and men, men read books written by men. Again, if you’re shaking your head, I love you – you know or are a man who reads books by women and you are instantly more attractive (you knew this already).

Women make up more than half the population, and women’s stories – a fraught term, one that I’m employing to indicate books by women or about women – deserve to be written, read, played and listened to in equal measure to the stories of men. Systematic condescension has meant that we have a cobwebby legacy of patriarchy that means it can be harder to find information about books by women. There are fewer reviews of books written by women, fewer reviews written by women, and fewer books with women as the central figures, rather than as cipher (see the Bechdel test, a phrase originated from the work of cartoonist Alison Bechdel, asking whether a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than about a man).

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But why is it a problem that men aren’t reading books by women? No one should be forcing anyone to do anything in our beautiful democracy. Well, if only it was a true book democracy, that would be absolutely right. But valuable information has been withheld, and you may be missing out. In certain types of fiction, it isn’t a true democracy.

Crucially, men who don’t read books by women are missing out on a bunch of great stories and the opening up of whole worlds. Just like in real life, where women can, and do, plough fields, run spy agencies, and race in the Olympics, as well as look after small children, negotiate familial disputes and cook a terrific or terrible rack of lamb, books by women are diverse. Some are as hideously bad as some books by men (almost as if they are equal).

But some are life changing, and you may miss out on finding them if you don’t look harder; you may even need to look past what is being presented to you.

To read only books by men leads to thinking that the male lens is the norm and superior and that, therefore, anything else is different and lesser and unusual and, usually, inferior. A world where we believe and act as though part of our populace is inferior is a dangerous world, and it becomes so much easier to sanction cruelty.

As with the term Lego man, it can be a subconscious thing. So let’s make it conscious – we have to decide to seek out books by women. Some will be rubbish, but pay that no more heed than you would a rubbish book by a man. It isn’t because it’s about family or because it’s about a bunch of girls (even the term sounds derogatory – how ridiculous is that?), or something domestic, or because it’s written by a woman that it’s not good, it’s simply because it’s a rubbish book.

Don’t contribute to a culture that encourages women to feel as though their experience and voice and their stories are not as important as those of men. If you value the opinion of the women in your life, then read books by women. If you want your daughter or niece or friend to grow up knowing that they can do anything they want to do, encourage them to tell their stories, and settle down and listen.

Louise Swinn is chairwoman of the Stella Prize – presented on Tuesday night in Sydney – and editorial director of Sleepers.